Michelle M. Englund

Michelle M. Englund is a Research Associate for the Early Childhood Research Collaborative. Dr. Englund received her Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Family Education and a minor in Child Psychology in 1997 from the University of Minnesota. She has worked in numerous capacities on the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children at the Institute of Child Development, University Of Minnesota, for the past 18 years. This is an on-going longitudinal study of high-risk participants who have been followed from birth through age 28. In addition, she has worked on a number of other research projects, including research developing and testing an instructional design to facilitate higher order thinking skills of early childhood educators. She has also managed and administered legislatively mandated programs in her work with the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board. Much of her research work has examined how early relationships, especially parent-child relationships, influence later competence, including educational success. She is particularly interested in relationship factors that impact children’s learning. A recent manuscript examines how the quality of instruction provided by parents in problem solving tasks prior to school entry sets the stage for children’s later learning and educational attainment in young adulthood. Dr. Englund has published journal articles on peer relationships, education, and substance use, and has presented her research at international conferences.

Michelle Englund can be reached at 612-624-5792 or by e-mail at englu008@umn.edu.